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What the world needs now, is enlightened leadership – Do you measure up?

To become the best leader you can be, you will need to be brave enough to put your current leadership up against a mirror.

However, most leaders don’t bother. They think there is little else to learn… They are wrong.

Last weekend I had the privilege to speak at a conference about motivation and as always I stuck around to see the whole event. I was struck by this companies culture, they were progressive, enabling and it appeared as though they had a highly engaged team. They challenged their leadership culture openly – with the desire to improve as the main priority.

This demonstration of leadership behaviours highlighted an unconformable truth. Cultures and leaders like this are rare…. Really rare.

How many senior leaders do you know that openly practise and develop their understanding of the science of human motivation?

They are literally an endangered species.

“Enlightened leadership is awareness where we experience values like truth, goodness, compassion and also intuition, creativity and focused attention”

Deepak Chopra

Even in our enlightened world, the most common approach you will experience from a leaders is, “This is want I need from you.”

Most leaders ask for more, demand more, without giving to their employees. Leaders want more, faster, cheaper and they want it now.

Sometimes they might even throw in a financial incentive (Which has been proven to worsen performance when partaking in complex tasks – as proven by hundreds of social science experiments!)

So think about this for a moment – Most leaders will ask their followers for improved performance and then provide them with an incentive that is a performance inhibitor!

Now take a look at your own leadership – Is your approach a “this is what I need from you” one? Do you provide your followers with tools and strategies that support or inhibit them? How do you even know?

The world is changing and so are followers. Back in the time of the dinosaurs, a leader was seen as powerful and strong if they demanded more. Dinosaurs are extinct and so should be that type of leader.

Followers are demanding a new type of leader. A leader who is enlightened, a leader who understands social science, who understands intrinsic motivation and has the approach of “This is what I will be for my followers.”

The absolute final truth about your leadership ability is in the hand of your followers. It is the ONLY factor that counts – Your followers decide if you are a leader, nobody else.

As a follower – What type of leader would you want to be lead by?

You will find that your answer gives you clues to the leader you need to become.

What is leadership, if it is not about creating the optimum environment for followers to be successful?

Think about YOUR leadership – Do you demand more from yourself in providing the conditions for your followers to flourish?

Be a true leader, be a progressive leader… be an enlightened leader. It is what the world needs now.